The recent controversy about orthodoxy and unorthodoxy is nothing new. It reflects the long-standing debate about the role of God in our lives -- and even the very existence of God. For centuries now, battles have been raging between science and religion, reason and faith, modernity and belief. But before we enter the fray, should we not first be defining the actual meaning of God, religion, faith and spirituality? Without fully understanding these terms, how can we know what we are disagreeing over and whether we are truly in disagreement at all? As one great mystic told the self-proclaimed atheist: The God you don't believe, I don't believe in either. What, for example, is the difference between religion and spirituality? Can one be complete and healthy without the other? What is God like and why is He relevant to us? Does being religious automatically make one a fundamentalist? Can I be "orthodox" and live a life of happiness and freedom? Can faith and modernity be reconciled and balanced in today's society?  Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as he dissects these critical issues, digs into their very core roots and comes away with a surprising and refreshing take on God, faith, religion -- and its far reaching implications in our lives.

Meaningful Life Skills: Weekly Global Class

Is God Orthodox? Religious Fundamentalism and Spirituality

More than oxygen, more than food and drink -- humans need love and connection to live and thrive. But what exactly defines connection? And why is it so vital? Above all, how do we build healthy, meaningful and sustainable connections and relationships? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson and discover how true connections are forged in our souls. Travel on a fascinating journey into the five dimensions of your soul, reflecting five levels of connection, and learn how to build deeper bonds on each of these levels.

The Kabbalah of Human Connection: 5 Steps to Enhance Your Relationships

One of the most powerful sights to behold is the regeneration of a forest after it has burned down. Few things are more astounding to witness than renewal after hopelessness and rebirth after death. How have you reacted to the scars and schisms in your life? Have you given up? Do you feel like damaged goods? All of us will experience a crack in our lives -- a broken relationship, a shattered dream, an unfulfilled promise, a betrayal of trust. For some devastation comes as a result of abuse and trauma -- causing one to feel like something was '"killed inside of me." How you respond and rebound after something has been lost or destroyed will define your life. Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this fascinating presentation on how to create regeneration after fires have ravaged your life. If you have experienced any type of loss or destruction -- this class is for you. It will give you a new perspective and hope on your losses and offer you actionable exercises to discover deeper resources in coping and growing through your challenges. Like the Biblical phoenix arising from the ashes, and the new moon reborn each month, like new life sprouting from an eroding seed and the newborn chick emerging from a cracked egg, learn ways to experience a metamorphosis in your own life -- empowering you to transform destruction into resurrection.

From Destruction to Resurrection

Are you free? Most people instinctively reply: Of course I am free. We live in a free world. In contrast to centuries past, today the citizens of the USA and most of the countries in the world are guaranteed inalienable rights -- freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. Today we have the freedom to move about and make our own decisions about virtually every aspect of life, unlike in days of old, when monarchs and despots ruled the world with absolute authority. But do these rights alone define true freedom? You can be technically free, unbound by chains and authority, and yet be completely enslaved by your fears, insecurities, addictions and a series of other forces that encumber your ability to spread your wings. Take technology: is it freeing you or ensnaring you? Are you in control of your life, or do other voices and expectations define and control your decisions? Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this eye-opening and "freeing" presentation, as he introduces a deeper way of defining freedom -- not just the freedom to do "whatever you like," but the freedom to be yourself -- to express your unique voice without any outside imposition. Discover how true freedom is not the absence of subjugation, but experiencing the full expanse of life. It is not merely the shedding of external chains, but unlocking the internal chains that stop you from living up to your infinite potential.

Do You Feel Free?

Our hearts and prayers go out to the lives buried under the rubble of the collapsed Surfside towers, and we extend all our support to their families to stand strong in this difficult time. At the same time, this heart wrenching tragedy offers us powerful lessons about the sanctity and dignity of every individual life, and how hope is never extinguished. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he honors the living and those taken with an impassioned talk about the eternal flame that burns forever even in the deepest darkness. No matter what challenges and difficulties we may experience in life, a spark always remains alive, which provides us with hope and strength, and upon which we can build and rebuild.

Finding Hope When All Seems Lost

Summer has finally arrived. After what we have been through in the last 18 months, we all can use a well deserved vacation. Just kickin' off our shoes, laying back and relaxing. With no pressures, let's just BBQ and have some fun. But is that enough? Can the human spirit really survive on animal bliss alone, without some measure of healthy angst and restlessness? When we're on the fast-paced merry-go-round or roller coaster of our lives, it's difficult to step back and see our lives in perspective. But when we experience a transition -- from winter to summer, from covid to post-covid, from gloom to hope -- we have a break, an opportunity. As we enter the summer vacation season -- vacation from the word vacate, to empty and be free -- this is an excellent time to revisit the very nature of your life and its purpose. What is work and what is vacation? What exactly are we vacationing from? Please join Rabbi Jacobson and experience a new type of "vacation" by using the breezy summer energy to probe deeper into the quality of your life. Do you live to work, or work to live? Does what you do define who you are or the other way around? Are you a physical being on a spiritual journey, or a spiritual being on a physical journey? (Or a physical being on a physical journey?) What is your mission in life? What better time to take a midsummer night's dream -- one that you will never forget.

Summertime: What Are We Vacationing From?

Subscribe to the Meaningful Life Center YouTube Channel for more  ? https://www.youtube.com/meaningfullif...   Watch the Weekly Global Class Playlist:  ? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Let’s connect:  ?Website - http://www.meaningfullife.com/   ? Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/meaningful....   ?Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulli...   ?LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjaco...   ?Email – wisdomreb@meaningfullife.com   ?WhatsApp – 347-766-7558  Rabbi Simon Jacobson is a pioneering speaker, educator and mentor to thousands. He is the Dean and Founder of The Meaningful Life Center, coined "The Spiritual Starbucks" by the New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life (? https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaning...) which has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 13 different languages. With his keen insight into the human condition, and over 35 years of experience, he has the unique ability to offer clarity and direction especially in difficult times.   Rabbi Jacobson and the MLC have been lauded for creating non-stop programming nourishing people's hearts and souls.  Please donate or sponsor a class, to help us continue and expand this life-affirming work ? https://www.meaningfullife.com/donate.    #MeaningfulLifeCenter #AppliedKabbalah

Do We Need a New Type of Jewish Leadership Today?

Subscribe to the Meaningful Life Center YouTube Channel for more  ? https://www.youtube.com/meaningfullif...   Let’s connect:  ?Website - http://www.meaningfullife.com/   ? Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/meaningful....   ?Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulli...   ?LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjaco...   ?Email – wisdomreb@meaningfullife.com   ?WhatsApp – 347-766-7558  Rabbi Simon Jacobson is a pioneering speaker, educator and mentor to thousands. He is the Dean and Founder of The Meaningful Life Center, coined "The Spiritual Starbucks" by the New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life (? https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaning...) which has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 13 different languages. With his keen insight into the human condition, and over 35 years of experience, he has the unique ability to offer clarity and direction especially in difficult times.   Rabbi Jacobson and the MLC have been lauded for creating non-stop programming nourishing people's hearts and souls.  Please donate or sponsor a class, to help us continue and expand this life-affirming work ? https://www.meaningfullife.com/donate.    #MeaningfulLifeCenter #AppliedKabbalah #Masterclass #PleaseStandUp

Will the Real Me Please Stand Up?

Many people are alarmed by the recent rise of anti-Semitic threats and attacks. Whether this is connected to events in Israel and the general racial unrest and polarization in this country is debatable. Regardless, any accelerated anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence is certainly a cause for concern for all of humanity. Unequivocally, like the "miner's canary", hatred toward Jews has historically been a harbinger of troubles for all innocent people. Over the years, a school of thought has developed that we should indeed be concerned with history repeating itself, the argument being that Jews are never safe. While there may be temporary lulls of peace and calm, as in the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry or pre-World War Europe, anti-Semitic violence always comes back to rear its ugly head.  However, there is another school of thought. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he passionately takes on this critical issue, and presents a radically different approach: While we need to be vigilant, and take strong measures to protect and defend ourselves, we must also realize that the world has become a better place for Jews and for the entire human race. This approach will guide us to discover ways to eradicate the root of anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred once and for all, enabling us to look forward to a brighter future -- a future of personal and global redemption.

Anti-Semitism on the Rise: Is History Repeating Itself?

Do you ever feel like you're trapped in a dark tunnel. with no way out? It may take the shape of confusion and uncertainty; of general resignation and "quiet desperation;" or of deeper depression and hopelessness. Every one of us, at times, will experience the fear and anxiety that comes with a sense of being stuck in our lives. Please join Rabbi Jacobson and discover ways to navigate through the "tunnel vision" of our lives and find the light at the end of the tunnel. Learn the cosmic and mystical roots of life's shadows, and not only how darkness leads to light, but also the divine nature of darkness itself. 

How Do I Find the Light at the End of the Tunnel?

As our hearts tear over the senseless loss of lives in the latest outbreak of violence in the Middle East, one can’t help but wonder: Will it ever end? What will it take to achieve peace in the Holy Land? Most, if not all, politicians, analysts, pundits and commentators — and nearly everyone else — have long given up hope on any comprehensive solution. After all we have witnessed, after all the attempts at peace, one need not even be a cynic be to be skeptical about the prospects. And yet, has everything truly been tried? The Western world in general rejects seeing this war between Israel and Arab/Muslims in any religious context. Many feel that in our “enlightened” and “scientific” age, religion is not and should not be a factor. Rational people can sit down and negotiate, as they would any business transaction or merger, and come up with a mutually acceptable compromise. And then move on. However, faith and religious passions don’t work that conveniently. Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this provocative presentation of a radical new approach. One that combines peace out of strength and a bold vision of the future. The true battle, he argues, is not with missiles and ammunition, but in the homes and schools that control and shape the impressionable minds of the next generation. Acknowledging that this may be a “naive” approach, Rabbi Jacobson contends that if enough of us can create a grassroots revolution, which challenges the status quo of the powers that be, we can indeed create true and lasting change, and ultimately establish a permanent peace.

Will There Ever Be Peace in the Middle East?

Just as some of us thought that the situation there was stabilizing, the peace accords showing promise of a brighter future for the region, we suddenly are rudely met with this barrage of rocket attacks and violence shaking the holy land... And all this in the wake of the Meron tragedy, in which 45 souls were ripped away from us. What is going on? How are we to react? You won't want to miss this special pre-Shavuot presentation by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, as he addresses both the larger picture and historical roots of this crisis, as well as how it informs the smaller, immediate picture of the here and now. Did you know that these conflicts go back over 3800 years? That they are based on deep ideological and spiritual tensions? Only by understanding the broader context of these battles can we hope to diffuse them and find a permanent solution.  Take a journey back 3333 years ago to Sinai, and come away with a new clarity and perspective, as well as practical things we each can do to help the situation and ultimately bring true peace to all.

3333 Years From Sinai: Why is Israel Still Burning?

Is your life predestined and predetermined? Or do you have control over your destiny? Do you have free will? So much of your life seems fixed in place without any of your input. Beginning with your very nature, personality and genetic makeup, followed by the influences of your home, family and education that shaped you and your attitudes, and finally different life experiences -- all factors that defined you and your life long before you became an independent adult (if there is such a thing) and were able to make choices. It then would seem to logically follow that we are products, if not victims, of circumstances. Well, not so fast. Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson and a discover a new perspective that has the power to change the way you see yourself and your life. Explore deeper mystical truths that will take you beneath the surface of our fixed structures and deterministic universe and reveal nondeterministic forces, containing a vast range of possibilities, which when tapped into, allow you to transcend your defined life and influences, and exercise true freedom. Learn how you control your destiny -- you determine whether to will be a product or a creator of circumstances. Find out how to travel beyond the stars and experience new vistas and possibilities.

The Kabbalah of Horoscopes: Is It Written In the Stars?

Is this wishful thinking? Do we deserve a second chance? Can we have a second chance? Conventional wisdom would seem to dictate that time travels in only one direction: forward. The past is the past, and you can do nothing to change it -- as much as you may want to. This is how we have been trained to think. Today's culture often takes it a step further: Get real and stop having illusions of grandeur. Come to terms with the fact that bygones are bygones. Shattered dreams, broken promises, love betrayed -- this is all part of reality. There are no second chances. As the cynics or the pessimists say; the more things change, the more they stay the same. Ecclesiastes puts it this way: A generation goes, a generation comes, and there is nothing new under the sun. Basically, lower your expectations and don't expect any great changes in your life. If something was damaged, there's nothing you can do about it. We are victims of circumstances. Period. But is this true? Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he challenges conventional thinking and offers us a radically different approach that will transform the way you think about your past and your future. Discover how to look at yourself in a new way. Learn how your sincere longing for a second chance can open up new channels, allowing you to indeed turn past mistakes into tremendous opportunities and actually create second chances in life.

Do People Deserve a Second Chance?

On a routine day do you find yourself being reactive or proactive? Are you responding to forces around you -- in your personal, social and professional life; the needs of your home and family, the demands at work, the expectations of friends? Are there other voices tugging at you and dictating your behavior? How about fears, inhibitions, habits and addictions that may be controlling your life? Do you feel that you have become a product (if not a victim) of circumstances? It's time to change that. And we begin by changing the way we run our daily lives. Please join Rabbi Jacobson on an eye-opening journey into your daily schedule, offering tools to evaluate your day and to implement changes that will enhance every aspect of your experiences. Discover ways to look at your life from the inside out instead of the outside in -- a day driven not by external needs and demands, but by an inner calling. Learn how to develop a mission-centric perspective, by introducing spiritual exercises that will infuse every detail of your day, even the most trivial and mundane, with deeper meaning, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

How to Have a Meaningful Day

The ultimate Torah class with Rabbi Simon Jacobson. A spiritual workshop that will inspire and teach you how to transform your personal life. Get unlimited free downloads of MP3 recordings of all classes in this series with a free membership at www.meaningfullife.com/join.

hubhopper

Meaningful Life Skills: Weekly Global Class

hubhopper